making infrastructure work for the poor: development ... · social and welfare-related mdgs by...

Abstract

Bangladesh has been suffering from acute shortages

of energy and the gap between demand and supply

of energy has been gradually increasing. As the

country has very limited natural resources, except

natural gas, it largely depends on imported fuel. But

due to financial and technical inability, it is almost

impossible for Bangladesh to extend fossil fuel

based power distribution networks to the rural com-

munity. Moreover, the low purchasing power is also

a limiting factor for the rural population to have

access to the formal energy market. As a result,

rural society is in a most vulnerable situation from

the side of energy consumption. Against this back-

ground, this study aims to examine the link between

energy and economic development by collecting

primary data from two Bangladesh communities

which use solar energy. The study made an attempt

to find out the economic and social impacts of sus-

tainable rural energy on poor people and gover-

nance and management of these infrastructure proj-

ects. The study found that providing electricity

through solar energy has a multidimensional affect

on rural livelihood. It not only improves the living

standard of the rural people but also improves

access to information, better health for women and

children and an extension of indoor income gener-

ating activities. However, poor maintenance, lack of

technical knowledge, and training hampered the

operation and repairing functions of solar energy

technology in the rural community. For improving

effective management of solar energy technologies,

there is a need to increase end user awareness of

system use, end-user capacity to troubleshoot prob-

lems, and level of service, quality and timeliness of

repairs. The local government should come forward

to increase awareness among beneficiaries and

ensure the effective functioning of these systems.

Keywords: infrastructure, solar energy, develop-

ment, governance, poverty, Bangladesh

1. IntroductionInfrastructure is an essential part of the develop-ment of any country. It is about providing basicservices related to water, sanitation, modern energy,roads and other aspects of transport, and access tomodern information communications technologythat people need in everyday life. Infrastructureservices cover a wide range of users and edifice theenvironment in which people live and work. Thelack of basic infrastructure is a defining characteris-tic of poverty. Though the lack of infrastructurehurts both the rural and urban poor, no one is moredisadvantaged than the rural poor. The absence ofbasic infrastructure services limits their access tomarkets and effectively excludes them and theirchildren from education, health and other services.

The availability of reasonably priced and sus-tainable energy to all people is important for theachievement of the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), and its contributions can help to meet thetargets in various ways. Energy is a precondition forpoverty alleviation, as targeted in MDG 1, since itenables income-generating activities and the estab-lishment of micro-enterprises. Similarly, energyhelps to alleviate hunger and meet most of the othersocial and welfare-related MDGs by providing thelight and power that the achievement of these goalscritically depends on. Thus, infrastructure improve-ments have an indispensable contribution to maketo attainment of Millennium Development Goals inEducation and Health. As a result, the issue of‘energy for the poor’ is consequently becoming oneof the principal issues in the global debate on ener-gy.

In Bangladesh, a major portion of the popula-tion located in off-grid areas will not be able to getelectricity in the foreseeable future due to severalconstraints, including low consumer density andinaccessibility. The elimination of poverty remainsthe primary objective of the government’s develop-ment efforts. Keeping the socio-economic reality in

Journal of Energy in Southern Africa • Vol 17 No 2 • May 2006 31

Making infrastructure work for the poor: Development

benefits of PV systems in two Bangladesh communities

H U ChowdhuryDepartment of Economics, Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research,

Almaty, Republic of Kzakhstan

view, the government has given top priority topoverty alleviation by using resources efficientlythrough integrated project development in ruralareas.

Rural electrification is a key element in ruraldevelopment and can bring tangible social and eco-nomic benefits to poor, particularly rural popula-tions. The possible benefits can include householdlighting, the ability to refrigerate food and medicine,and food processing. Access to electricity also canmake grain milling and agricultural processing lessexpensive and more convenient. The presence ofelectricity in a village also can result in better light-ing for schools, health clinics and public streets. Theuse of electric pumps can improve productivity inagriculture and provide cleaner water for the publicwater supply. Finally, the availability of electricitycan have a positive psychological impact through alessening of the sense of exclusion, remoteness, andvulnerability often felt by rural populations.

1.1 Literature review

Barkat et al (2002)1 carried out a very rigorousstudy on the Economic and Social Impact of a RuralElectrification program on Bangladesh, where theyfound that access to rural electrification has a signif-icant impact on the reduction of both income-poverty and all dimensions of human poverty(health, education and women empowerment).The study also found that rural access to this com-modity has a deep-rooted impact on agriculturaldevelopment, industrialization, and business andcommercial activities. In addition, it has an impacton human capital formation through knowledgebuilding mediated by electricity-driven media expo-sure.

Biswas Wahidul K, and others (2001)2 workedon a model for empowering rural poor throughrenewable energy technologies in Bangladesh.They found that renewable energy technologies(RETs) create income-generating activities for malelandless and marginal farmers and for women fromsuch households, while reducing environmentalproblems, like deforestation and indoor air pollu-tion from cooking with poor quality fuels. It hasbeen found that the welfare benefits for rural andpoor people of having access to electricity are quitehigh.3 The use of one electric light bulb is far supe-rior to kerosene lamps and candles.

A study on the impact of an energy infrastruc-ture project was carried out under a DFID fundedproject for the benefit of developing countries onthe assumption that energy infrastructure interven-tions have significant impacts on people’s liveli-hoods.4 The study concluded that although it seemsto have a positive impact, significant economicdevelopment does not automatically follow fromthe introduction of energy infrastructure and theprovision of energy services.

Garcia Albert U. (2002)5 carried out a study onan Assessment of a Solar Energy Program to deter-mine the social, economic and technical impact ofthe solar home system program in Isla Verde,Batangas City in the Philippines. The study foundthat solar electrification has brought changes in thelives of the solar users and the study categorizedthese changes from the social, economic and tech-nical point of view. Solar energy made it possible tomodernize the household facilities such as housetype, toilet, cooking and water facilities etc. becausethe complementary undertakings paved the way totransport the commodities around the island. Solarhome system (SHS) bridges the gap between life inthe city and the island through access to media (TV,radio, etc.), efficient lighting, communicationthrough UHF radio etc. It facilitates the modificationof social activities thereby giving extra or extendedtime for social activities like entertainment, chattingwith neighbours, village meetings, social drinkingfor men, study time for children etc. It was alsofound that the establishment of the SHS paved theway for the peoples’ organizational maturity by theformation of other associations after the founding ofthe solar owners organization.

There is an improvement in the communitythrough the aspects of peace and order, participa-tion of community members through communityaffairs, socio-economic status of community mem-bers and the level of development of the village.Extended time for people’s economic activities hap-pened for mat weaving, packing of tropical fish,livestock raising, rice cake making and the servicehour of the sari-sari store (variety store or kiosk).

The SHS has brought savings to the usersbecause it is cheaper to use than kerosene althoughthe initial cost is high. It gives way to the establish-ment of the consumers and credit cooperative, thus,in one or another has been helping the users fortheir financial problems. The unavailability of tech-nicians has made the SHS users to be more self-reliant because they have now the capability toaddress the technical problems of their electricalsystem. Vijay Laxmi and others6 found that in thecase of bio-fuel use, time spent and hardship suf-fered in fuel collection, health impacts suffered fromair pollution, increased burden of cleaning utensils,walls, floors and clothes, ecological changes and soon, are negative externalities.

Against this background, the purpose of thestudy is to focus on an impact assessment of sus-tainable rural energy projects, with a focus onpoverty and gender implications. The present studycould not cover the impact assessment for alloptions of SRE except solar energy. As a result, thispaper will exclude projects on wind, biomass andmicro-hydro. Within the solar option, though theSRE project has explored a number of PV tech-nologies considering socio-economic conditions,

32 Journal of Energy in Southern Africa • Vol 17 No 2 • May 2006

availability of resources, technological options anddissemination possibilities, the present study con-siders the following two projects for assessing theimpact on poverty and MDGs:

• Cluster village electrification by solar PV atNalitabari, Sherpur; and

• Solar PV electrification at a community clin-ic at Terokhada, Khulna.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows.Section 2 presents the methodology of the study.Section 3 presents the description of the infrastruc-ture project related to sustainable rural energy(SRE) and, Section 4 presents the findings of thestudy and Section 5 presents the key lessons learntfrom the project. Finally, Section 6 is the concludingsection.

2. Objectives and methodology of thestudyThe objective of the study is to assess the direct andindirect impacts of the SRE projects on humanpoverty reduction and on human security. Morespecifically, the objectives of the present study are:(i) to look at the economic and social impacts ofsustainable rural energy on poor people at the locallevel; (ii) to look at the governance and manage-ment of these infrastructures; and (iii) to identify les-sons learned and suggest policy options in each ofthe infrastructure projects with a view to replicationmicro-macro linkages.

The study collected information by Focus GroupDiscussions (FGD) to assess the poverty and genderimplications of the SRE. The aim of this approach isnot only to extract information, but also to generatediscussions to facilitate community analysis andaction planning. As the participatory approach gen-erates detailed qualitative data specific to the par-ticular communities being studied, the data gener-ated often cannot be generalized to a broader area.However, the approach builds capacity through dis-cussion with community for planning and manag-ing the project. In this cycle, the different groups ina community assess the situation, identify areas forchange, and take collective action.

Within this framework, the study made attemptsto find out the link between energy and economicdevelopment by collecting information from projectbeneficiaries, including both males and females.The benefits of having female respondents are very

important in a male-dominated society of ruralBangladesh, and it is encouraging to see a goodnumber of women coming forward to talk to us andexpress their views. Information was also collectedfrom the local officials of LGED and NGOs to knowthe present status of the service and the governanceissues, and to assess the social and economicimpacts of the project. The study also utilized infor-mation as available in various secondary sources.

3. The infrastructure projectAs Bangladesh has enjoyed steady growth in recentyears, the infrastructure to supply electricity to theeconomy has not kept pace with this growth. Thegap between demand and supply is graduallyincreasing. As a result, Bangladesh has been suffer-ing from acute shortages of energy where rural soci-ety is in a most vulnerable situation. As the countryhas very limited natural resources, except naturalgas, it largely depends on imported fuel. The use ofimported fossil fuel is not only harmful for the envi-ronment and long term sustainability of the econo-my of Bangladesh but also, due to financial andtechnical inability, it is almost impossible for thecountry to extend fossil fuel based power distribu-tion networks to the rural community. Moreover, thelow purchasing power is also a limiting factor for therural population to have access to the organizedenergy market.

In rural Bangladesh, the major demand for ener-gy in the household activities is for cooking andlighting while that in commercial activities is irriga-tion and crop processing. Having realized theincreased demand for rural energy, the LocalGovernment Engineering Department (LGED) ofBangladesh has initiated a Sustainable RuralEnergy (SRE) project within the overall frameworkof the UNDP financed Sustainable EnvironmentManagement Programme (SEMP) to exploreopportunities for community based renewableenergy (RE) options for different application andtheir use. Activities under SRE encompass (1)demonstration of RE installation, (2) establish arenewable energy information network (REIN), and(3) capacity building through training. In the contestof natural resource endowment and livelihood ofthe rural people, SRE has limited its activities with-in four renewable energy options and these aresolar, wind, biomass and micro-hydro.

The following SRE projects within four renew-able energy options have already been implement-ed under the Sustainable Environment Manage-ment Programme (SEMP).

3. 1 Renewable energy technology

demonstration

Solar energy

• Solar village demonstration programme atBaliadangi, Thakurgaon


• Demonstration plant in solar market electrifica-tion at Shalikupa, Jhenaidah

• Cluster village electrification by solar PV atNalitabari, Sherpur

• Solar PV electrification at a community clinic atTerokhada, Khulna

• Demonstration solar plant in a tourist spot atGoznee, Jhenaighati

• Tribal community electrification by solar PV atRangamati

• Solar demonstration for IT development atKutubdia, Cox’s Bazar

• Solar PV demonstration for IT development atKutubdia, Cox’s Bazar

• Large scale comprehensive solar electrificationat a coastal community

Bio energy

• Two Biogas plants at two sites in the country• One bio-gasifier plant at one site of the country

Wind energy

• Water pumping unit (windmills) at two differentsites

• Wind solar hybrid systems at Kuakata SeaBeach

• Twenty wind monitoring stations in differentparts of the country

Micro hydro

• One small micro-hydro power unit

3.2 Brief description of the selected

projects

3.2(A) Solar Electrification Cluster Village,

Sherpur, Bangladesh

This is a demonstration solar photovoltaic projectfor a cluster village called ‘Asrayan’. ‘Asrayan’ is agovernment’s campaign for the eradication ofpoverty, providing shelter and improving the quali-ty of livelihoods of landless poor. The cluster villageis located in the government’s land – called ‘Khashland’ – of different parts of Bangladesh, where land-less poor are rehabilitated and sheltered.

A Solar Photovoltaic System (SPV) has broughtenormous potential for socio-economic develop-ment of the rural people in off-grid areas. Theobjectives of this project are twofold: firstly, toassess the potential of this technology in improvingthe quality of landless poor, and secondly, to verifywhether the landless groups can organize them-selves to support operation and maintenance of thesystem. The installation completed in 1999 inNalitabari Upozila in the Sherpur district is to pro-vide solar electricity in 60 houses of the landlesspoor.

3.2 (B) Solar Electrification at a Rural Health

Clinic

Within the overall framework of the SustainableEnvironmental Management Programme (SEMP)sponsored by the UNDP, an LGED selectedKamarul Community Health clinic under


The projects at a glance

Item

Name of the Project

Location

System Capacity

Installation Year

Investment Cost of the

Project/ Allocation7

No. of Beneficiary

O& M

Beneficiaries

participation in O & M

Funding Agency

Implementing Agency

Objective and Target

of the Project

Project A

Cluster Village electrification by solar PV at

Nalitabari

Boradubi, Upazila: Nalitabari, Dist.: Sherpur

1725 Watts

1999

US $ 24 200

60 houses of landless poor

By Beneficiary Committee

1 TK. per day8

UNDP

LGED

Firstly, to assess potential of this echnology in

improving the quality of landless poor.

Secondly, to verify whether the landless

groups can organize themselves to support

the operation.

Project B

Solar PV electrification at a community clinic

Boradubi, Upazila: Nalitabari, Dist.: Sherpur

1500 Watts

2001

N/A

About 30 000 people getting health care

service

The responsibility of O & M has been

entrusted with a local NGO, Shastho o Jono

Unnayan Sagstha (SJS)

Clinic authority deposits TK. 1000 per

month to the SJS

UNDP

LGED

To deliver an adequate level of health care

services in remote regions by providing a

reliable source of electricity.

Terokhada Upazila in Khulna district is to deploy PVtechnology for facilitating better medical health careto rural people. It may be mentioned that the clinicis located at a remote place which is about 13 kmaway from Upazila HQ and there is a very littleprospect to cover the area under a national grid net-work in the near future. The objective of this projectis to deliver an adequate level of health care servic-es in remote regions by providing a reliable sourceof electricity. Electrical power is often fundamentalto the health services and, in its absence at anymoment, can have dire consequences.

Under this initiative, a 1.5 kWp PV system hasbeen installed to provide electricity to OT lamps formedical surgery and a refrigerator for vaccines,blood preservation in addition to other medicalequipments Moreover, clinic lightings, fans and aTV facility have also been incorporated consideringpatients’ comfort. Operation and maintenance ofthis system is being done by the clinic authority.

4. Findings A. Solar electrification cluster village,

Sherpur, Bangladesh9

PV Technology for the landless poor started in 1999to provide electricity for room lighting to 60 familiesand TV in community centres for information andentertainment. This cluster village, which is knownas ‘Asrayan’ and is inhibited by homeless people aspreviously mentioned, is located at Baradubi in thedistrict of Sherpur. Sixty families in six barracks areliving in this Asrayan Kendra. Note that ten familiesare living in each barrack.

In each barrack, there are 12 lights including twolights that are specially arranged for security pur-poses and set in the front and backyard. In total, 72lights were allocated to this cluster village.

As most of the families living in the ‘Asrayan’ arevery poor, we try to determine the impact of solarelectrification on their earning potentiality. Do youthink that solar electrification enhances yourincome generating activities? In response to thisquestion most of the female members replied in thefollowing way: Before electrification, we didn’t haveany spare time in the whole day as we had toengage in household activities including prepara-tion of meals for the whole family. In the absence ofelectricity, it was impossible for us to pursue anyincome generating activities because the sunset pro-vision limits our duration of work. After solar elec-trification, we are getting plenty of time for ‘sewing’particularly at night. Don’t you think that this is agood opportunity for us to earn more by utilizingour extra time? (a female household member ofBaradubi Asrayan in the Sherpur District). Solarelectrification in the household level enables expan-sion of income generating activities particularlyhome based economic activities in the rural life.

From Figures 1 and 2, we see that electrification

has a positive impact on scope for work at night,expansion of local trade and business, generation ofemployment opportunities for the unemployed,and establishment of cottage industries and newshops.

‘Electricity makes it possible for our life to beeasier’, said Fatema Begum, a member of a house-hold at Asrayan. Now we can watch television andlearn more about the role of women in a society.We have seen how rural women are playing a sig-nificant role for fighting poverty by taking loansfrom different NGOs. Besides watching movies, wecan understand the different developmental activi-ties, like food for work, old age pension for destitutewoman, etc., that have been introduced by ourgovernment for reducing poverty and improvingthe livelihood of the poor. We have also learnedhow boys and girls need to be treated equally, therole of education in their life and the necessity oftaking extra food and health check ups during ourpregnancy, said another woman named ‘UmmeKulsum’. We have also learned the importance offamily planning in a society like ours. ‘Electricity hasbrought everything nearer to our door’, said JornaBegum. From the above observation, we candeduce that electricity has been playing the role ofmediating agent for social and cultural develop-ment.

‘The lighting from solar energy is much morecompared to lighting from kerosene lamps but theprice per unit of lighting for solar is substantiallylower’, said Rezaul Karim (a male household mem-ber of Baradubi Asrayan in the Sherpur District).Our children could not even read properly due topoor light from kerosene lamps, which is also dam-aging for their eyes. Besides, there is a significantfire risk from the use of kerosene lamps. The studyhas confirmed that there is an increase in the qual-ity of life and satisfaction from the provision of elec-tricity for households.

Education is a key input of human develop-ment, which is a condition of enlarging people’schoices and opportunities. Human development isnot possible without the providing of benefits ofelectricity to the population. As a result, the studymade an attempt to know the role of electricity inchanging the attention and willingness towards chil-dren’s education and their attendance in school.

The study found that electricity increases theawareness amongst parents by strengthening theknowledge-base due to access to TV. The study alsofound that children now devote more time for edu-cation as they have sufficient light for study aftersunset. Among all male FGD participants, 54% saidattention and willingness to study have increasedand 15% said that school attendance has increasedwith the availability of electricity. The correspondingfigures for female FGD are 64% and 21% respec-tively.


All households believed that security hadincreased due to electrification by the solar energysystem at Asrayan. The availability of light through-out the night reduces the incidence of theft and rob-bery, which was very frequent before electrificationand now it has become difficult due to the avail-ability of light at the front side and backyard of eachbarrack.

As the latrine is far from our home, it was diffi-

cult for old age people and children to use it partic-ularly at night before electrification. Due to electric-ity, old age people and children of the ‘Asrayan’ canuse the latrine very easily particularly at night.Electricity connection increases the mobility atnight. Most of the respondents believed that theycan take care of their family and children when theybecome sick. Moreover, pregnant women feel betterdue to electricity.

The study found that most of the male FGD par-ticipants are day labourers, which is their majorsource of income for their livelihood. A few of theFGD participants have income earning opportuni-ties from livestock, although having livestock inrural households is a common practice, especiallyin an agro-based country like Bangladesh. The rea-son might be that most of the households inhabitedin the ‘Asrayan’ are landless so either they have verylimited homestead land or no land at all. So theyare unable to provide food and accommodation fordomestic animals.

As the ‘Asrayan’ is located in a very remote area,most of the men used to return home from workbefore sunset as there was a risk of potential theftand robbery. After solar electrification, they are


Figure 2: Perception of respondents in FGDs

Figure 1: Perception of respondents in FGDs

Figure 3: Children’s attention and willingness to

study after solar electrification

enjoying extended hours of work, which enableshigher income through opportunities to engage inincreased economic activities.

The study observed that electricity has the fol-lowing positive impact on both male and femalerespondents of the Asrayan: • awareness of crucial public health issues• seeking treatment by medically competent peo-

ple while sick• use of medically trained people in child delivery• use of TT immunization• rate of full immunization of children (vaccines

against 6 diseases)• intake of Vit-A capsules to prevent night-blind-

ness among children• use of family planning methods• use of hygienic latrines

The significant impact of electricity in people’shealth-hygiene-sanitation improvements is mediat-ed through TV viewing, radio listening, easy avail-ability and accessibility to the health centre.

Figure 4: Increase in awareness due to

watching TV

It is observed from the Figure 4 that awarenessfrom respondents increase about AIDS and themerits of early marriage. Now the respondents, irre-spective of men and women, are more aware andagainst the dowry and acid burn.10 The study hasfound that all of the respondents like to watch TV,which brings more recreation in their life.

Most of the respondents believed that after theinstallation, they obtained the benefit of the solarelectrification for about 11 months only. They didnot pay any extra cost for getting this electricityconnection. During the consumption of this service,they deposited TK. 20 per month for each bulb tothe local LGED office for the purpose of repairs andmaintenance.

4.1 Perception

Women’s perception towards their children’s educa-tion, ideal-age at marriage, ideal family size, youngwomen’s job outside the village and dowry haveincreased due to solar electrification. In addition,security of mobility at night, husband’s consultationon major decision issues, male-female debate inhealth care and educational spending etc. have

positively impacted on the project beneficiaries.What Will You Do if You Have More Energy?

The following scenario illustrates rural people per-ceptions of the increased energy supplies. A largemajority of 60% think that it would increase eco-nomic activities and create more jobs, 12% thinkthat it would improve their lifestyle, and 20% hopefor more business etc. This finding implies that lifein rural areas, both in terms of income, education,and entertainment, would change if more energywas made available. In the social context, it wouldreduce migration to urban centres, as well as impacton population growth.

4.2 Governance

Local Upazilla Parisad selected the site to install PVtechnology at the cluster village. Microelectronicsand Rahim Afroj supplied three and four solar unitsrespectively. The present study has found that asolar electrification system at ‘Asrayan’ is in a verycritical condition. Trees have already covered mostof the ‘solar panel’. The users are deprived of con-suming this service due to lack of proper mainte-nance for about the last three years.

Most of the bulbs supplied at the initial levelwere damaged after one year of usage, and therewas no replacement thereafter. Each householddeposited Taka 20 per month for more than oneyear to the local LGED office, hoping that they willget a proper repairing and maintenance servicefrom LGED. The fact is that the cost of each bulb isvery expensive as this solar electrification runsunder a DC system.

The system has collapsed due to lack of properrepairing and maintenance. The system hasbecome ineffective because the battery and bulbsbecome damaged, said one official of the localLGED. Insufficient funds and lack of skills are themajor obstacles for repairing and maintenance. It isan urgent necessity to involve local people for prop-er monitoring and maintenance of this infrastruc-ture project. The governance system of rural electri-fication through sustainable rural energy must beimproved for providing repair and maintenanceservices.

‘The Government should come forward to trainour people for effective running of this system andform a ‘committee’ to supervise the whole thing’,said Rizia Begum, an inhabitant of the Asrayan.Since the poor have weak social networks and theyare usually excluded from mechanisms that allowtheir voices to be heard, formation of a committeecan play an important role in extending people’sparticipation in the monitoring and maintenancefunction.

B. Solar electrification at rural health clinic

(KHC)

Under the SRE project, solar electrification was pro-


vided to the Kamarul Health Clinic in TerokhadaUpazila in the Khulna district in 2001. Along withelectricity connection, a refrigerator was provided topreserve vaccines, blood etc. The Kamarul Healthclinic is located at a remote place, which is about 13km away from Upazila HQ, and there is very littleprospect of covering the area under the nationalgrid network in the near future. The overall objec-tive of this project was to improve health care deliv-ery among the rural communities in Kamarul andnearby areas of Terokhada Upazila.

Coverage of the solar electricity at the Kamarulhealth clinic at the time of installation:• 20 lights /bulbs (each 7 watt)• One ceiling fan• One table fan• OT light (included 7 lights ) each 35 watts• One refrigerator• One TVClinic staff and facility:• Three general physicians and one surgeon• Two nurses• Ten beds and OT room

As the clinic has targeted marginalised and hardto reach communities, people who previously hadlittle or no access to services are now gettingimproved health care from this clinic after solarelectrification has been installed. The project hasimpacted positively on poverty reduction and theempowerment of women. The doctors and thenurse show a very enthusiastic attitude towards thepatients.

The clinic came under solar electrification in2001, though it was established in 1999. Before2001, the clinic maintained its energy supply from adiesel-driven generator. The fact is that before solarelectrification, people usually hesitated coming tothis clinic, as there was a risk of a power failure.

The distance of the Kamarul Health Clinic fromother health centres is:1. Terokhada Health Complex – 13 Km2. Mollahat Health Complex – 10 Km3. Kalia Health Complex – 25 Km

4. Shacheda Bazar Health and Family PlanningCentre – 1 Km

5. Chunkhola Health and Family Planning Centre– 3 Km

6. Ghardanga Health and Family Planning Centre– 16 KmBefore electrification, women nearby the

Kamarul areas only used to visit the clinic. Aftersolar electrification, women are coming from even40 km away from the Clinic. Old aged people aregetting the most benefit from this clinic. Before theestablishment of this clinic, people had to go to theUpazilla Health Complex, which is 12 km awayfrom their village.

Due to the long distance to the Upazilla HealthComplex and high transportation cost, most of thepeople of the Kamarul village do not visit the healthcomplex unless they have faced a severe health cri-sis. Therefore, the establishment of the KHC hasreduced these costs. Now they can frequently visitthe clinic when the children catch a cold, suffer froma fever or get diarrhoea with a very low cost.

About 60% of women from Kamarul and itsadjacent areas come to this clinic for child delivery.About 40% of women from the same area come tothis clinic for getting health services just before andafter child delivery. A major strategy to improvewomen’s health was the provision of safe mother-hood services. As a result, the clinic has madeaccess to safe delivery facilities available to preg-nant women, who would otherwise have givenbirth at home without skilled assistance.

Besides child delivery and other primary healthcare, the clinic provides services related to the fol-lowing diseases:• Typhoid• Asthma• Appendix problems• Tumours• Tubectomy• Hernia operation – Herniotomy• Brest tumour operation –Mastectomy• Gall bladder stone – Cholelithiasis


Figure 5: Distance from households to health centre

4.3 Community satisfaction

Seventy percent of respondents to a question onwhether they were satisfied with thediagnostic/treatment replied in the affirmative.Ninety percent were satisfied with the availability ofthe doctors at the clinic. The majority were satisfiedwith the availability of female health workers/nursesand labour room staff at the clinic. The price of theservice is very reasonable and lower compared toother private clinics.11 As the KHC does not provide

any medicine, availability of medicines is an area of

concern. The majority of the respondents expressedsatisfaction with the surgical operations, and childdelivery. Most of the participants of our FGD, start-ed to visit the clinic after the solar electrification wasinstalled, which ensures effective operation andservice through better equipment, test facilities andavailability of staff.

The majority of the respondents considered theiraccessibility to better health services and the avail-ability of medical staff as the most valuable ele-ments, which has brought effectiveness due to solarelectrification at the clinic. Improvements in healthuplift the level of performance and productivity ofindividuals, thereby increasing their income-gener-ating capacity.

With the installation of the solar electrification atthe clinic, health care facilities in Kamarul and adja-cent areas have increased. Increased immunizationcoverage has helped in reducing the incidence ofchildhood diseases. The rate of immunization ofchildren (vaccines against 6 diseases) increasedafter solar electrification at the clinic. In the com-munities, information, education and communica-tion concerning cleanliness, hygiene, and nutritionhave increased people’s awareness of health anddisease, resulting in the reduced incidence of sever-al diseases such as diarrhoea, tuberculosis and res-piratory tract infections.

From both male and female FGD participants,the study found that among the rural people, thereis an increase in awareness of crucial public healthissues. After the establishment of this clinic, people

are now seeking treatment from medically compe-tent people while sick rather than from local prac-tioners.

The strengthening of KHC by solar electrificationhas enabled people to obtain not only comprehen-sive primary health care but also to get services forsome complex diseases that need operations.12

Improved accessibility and availability of services,coupled with increased utilization, have had a pos-itive impact on the health status of the people,which might increase economic productivity andcontribute to the reduction in poverty.

All FGD participants believed that the clinic isestablished in a proper place. It is very near to thebus stop and 1 km away from the Shacheda Bazar.People never face any problems for coming to theclinic even in the rainy season, as there is a roadlinked up with the clinic.

Some 30% of the FGD participants said thatelectricity generated from the system could not ful-fil the 100% demand. However, they are satisfiedwith whatever the facility they are getting throughutilization of the solar system.

4.4 Management

The Clinic authority deposits TK. 1000 per monthto the ‘SJS’ (‘Shastho o Jono Unnayan Sagstha’,which is a local NGO responsible for the operationand maintenance of this infrastructure project) forrepairing and maintenance purposes. From thisdeposited money, SJS meets up the repairing andmaintenance costs. The system is providing consis-tently good power quality and the expected supplyof electricity. ‘However, we are not utilizing the fullcapacity of the system as some bulbs have beendamaged for long time. The refrigerator has notfunction well for the last 3 years’, said the Directorof the Clinic.

The solar panel of the electricity infrastructure atthe health clinic was placed in a proper position sothat it could get the sunlight properly. The batteryand charge controller were kept inside the clinic. Asa result, there is no security problem. Due to a nat-


Figure 6: Impact of solar electrification at the Kamarul Community Clinic

ural disaster and some other external causes, therewas no record of damage to this infrastructure.

Local people were not involved in site selection,construction and repairing and maintenance of thiselectricity infrastructure. Most of the FGD partici-pants said that involvement of local people is veryeffective particularly for maintenance of the project.At present three doctors of this clinic look after theoperation and maintenance function. For this task,they follow the guideline provided by the LGED.

Though they have received initial training onhow to look after this infrastructure, their knowledgeis not sufficient enough to handle any difficult tech-nical problem. For proper repairing and mainte-nance, LGED should provide intensive training tothe local people. If LGED could provide intensivetraining for skills upgrade, the system would func-tion more effectively. Presently, there is no scope toinvolve local people for the operation and mainte-nance of this infrastructure project, said one officialof SJS, which is a local NGO involved with thisproject.

From its own source of earning, the clinicdeposits of Tk. 1000 per month to SJS to meet upthe cost of repairing and maintenance. From thisdeposited amount, SJS meets the necessaryexpense for repairing and maintenance. If the sys-tem could transfer from DC to AC, the repairingand maintenance will be easier and less costly asmost of the equipments is available in the local mar-ket. As the system is running under a DC system, itis not possible for the clinic authority or local NGOto purchase bulbs or any other equipment from thelocal market. The cost of each bulb under a DC sys-tem is more expensive13 compared to the AC sys-tem, and these are only available at the capital city,Dhaka. Due to the unavailability of equipment atthe local market, the clinic authority/NGO could notreplace the necessary bulbs that are already dam-aged.

5. Key lessons learnt from the project• Community based renewable energy options

are good practice in promoting a RenewableEnergy based decentralized power generationsystem in remote off-grid areas.

• Major hardware of the solar systems are notlocally14 available and affordable for immediatereplacement. Locally available proper mainte-nance service, trouble shooting and updatedinformation could bring more confidence to thebeneficiary for using this technology.

• Though a good practice of generating fundsfrom collecting contributed money regularly tomeet the expenditure of operation and mainte-nance has been introduced, it is not sufficient tomeet the expenses of the repairing and mainte-nance service. The objective of this fund gener-ation is to hand over the demonstration plants to

the beneficiary systematically in order to built asense of ownership among them and, conse-quently, the beneficiary will take extra care tomaintain their system and increased the life ofthose plants.

• NGO based operation and maintenance ismuch effective compared to local governmentadministration.

• RET’s do have an important role to playtowards Energy Security especially for peopleliving in remote and off-grid areas.

6. SummaryThe greatest benefit of rural electrification for ruralcommunities is better lighting quality and the edu-cation benefit associated with extended lighting atnight. Other benefits include an improved access toinformation, better health for women and children,and an extension of indoor income generatingactivities. • Income generation activities of the Asrayan peo-

ple have been increased. Solar PV systems pro-vided sufficient lights, which helped people toextend their income generation activities atnight.

• Electricity has a positive impact on watching TVand listening to the radio.

• Access to electronic media provides the enter-tainment and education benefits by givingaccess to television, facilitate adult educationand also giving people awareness of health careand family planning through the EPI pro-gramme.

• Solar lights encourage different income genera-tion activities like small handicrafts and cottageetc in evening sessions.

• Female household members are better able toconduct all of their household responsibilities.

• Overall quality of livelihoods in cluster villagesimproved during their consumption of solarelectricity.

• Providing electricity at community clinicimproves the access to and quality of healthcare, access to medicines, presence ofdoctor(s)/health worker(s), and safety in andoutside the home.

• Creating a public benefits fund would be usefulto support wider access, or the developmentand diffusion of sustainable energy technolo-gies.

• Poor maintenance, lack of technical knowledge,and training hampered the operation andrepairing functions of solar energy technology atcluster villages.

• There have been problems with system reliabili-ty, and the need for guaranteed performancestandards have been urged by beneficiaries ofcluster villages.

• The system must function in an effective way.


This means that there must be an appropriatelevel of service operation that is both reliableand predictable.

• Bottom-up planning and implementation of theproject is important in order to ensure directcontact with the users as well as with local agen-cies, departments etc.

• Lack of information on equipment availability,costs, and barriers to financing the repairing andmaintenance function are the main concern tothe users of solar electricity at Asrayan.

• Better diagnosis and treatment capability andmore qualified medical personnel have resultedin an improved health facility in the Kamarulareas.

• The Kamarul health clinic has made access tosafe delivery facilities available to pregnantwomen, who would otherwise have given birthat home without skilled assistance.

• The strengthening of the Kamarul Health Clinicby solar electrification has enabled the people toobtain not only comprehensive primary healthcare but also to get service for some complexdiseases that need operations.

For improving effective management of solarenergy technologies, there is a need to increase:• end user awareness of system use • end-user capacity to troubleshoot problems, • level of service, quality and timeliness of repairs.

Clearly, energy is seen to serve three main pur-poses: education, entertainment and lifestyle.Therefore, there exists a tremendous social benefitfrom supplying extra energy to these people. Evensmall amounts of electricity can greatly improve liv-ing standards and facilitate income-generatingactivities, not least in rural areas.

AcknowledgementThe author is grateful to Dr. Atiur Rahman for hisinvaluable supervision while writing this report.

Notes1. Barkat et. al (2002). Economic and Social Impact

Evaluation Study of the Rural Electrification Programin Bangladesh. Human Development ResearchCentre.

2. Biswas Wahidul K., Paul Bryce and Mark Diesendorf.(2001). Model for empowering rural poor throughrenewable energy technologies in Bangladesh.Environmental Science & Policy 4:333-344.

3. Joint UNDP/World Bank Energy Sector ManagementAssistance Programme (ESMAP) 2000. Subsidies andSustainable Rural Energy Services: Can we CreateIncentives without Distorting Markets?

4. DFID. The impact of energy infrastructure project: Asustainable livelihoods analysis.

5. Garcia, Albert U. (2002). An Assessment of a SolarEnergy Program: The Case of Isla Verde, BatangasCity, Philippines, Master’s Dissertation, University ofFlensburg, Germany.

6. Vijay Laxmi, Jyoti Parikh, Shyam Karmakar andPramod Dabrase – Household energy, women’s hard-ship and health impacts in rural Rajasthan, India: theneed for sustainable energy solutions.

7. Please see site 2 of Table 2 and 3

8. Taka (TK.) is the unit of Bangladeshi currency. Atpresent 60 Taka (TK) = 1 US Dollar

9. Though the installed capacity of the project is to pro-vide electricity connection to 72 lights/bulbs and 1 TVpoint for Asrayan people, the present study found thatthe condition of solar electrification at the cluster vil-lage is in a very critical condition. As a result, weasked the FGD respondents to give their assessmentwhen the project performed very well for carrying outthis impact study.

10. In Bangladesh, usually good-looking girls are the vic-tims. Males are relatively less affected. Common caus-es are love affairs, enmity over land properties, andpersonal reasons. Children are also affected – they arethe victims of circumstances.

11. The FGD participants indicated that the private clin-ics at Khulna charge TK. 30 000.00 for a‘Prostatectomy Operation’, whereas the KHC chargesonly TK. 7 000.00 for the same operation.

12. The office of the KHC confirmed that during the lastyear, they did 148 operations. On average, 20 to 25patients come to outpatients for services.

13. Price of 7 watt bulb = TK. 550.00 and 9 watt bulb =TK. 575.00

14. Here the word ‘locally’ means the nearby area/townof the infrastructure project installed.

ReferencesAli, Ershad M. (2002). Transfer of Sustainable Energy

Technology to Developing Countries as a Means ofReducing Greenhouse Gas Emission-The Case ofBangladesh: Review of Relevant Literature.Discussion Paper No. 02.08. Department of Appliedand International Economics, Massey University.

Ali, Ershad M. (2002). Energy Consumption Pattern inRural Bangladesh-The Opportunity for New Zealand:A Household Survey. Discussion Paper No. 02.10.Department of Applied and International Economics.Massey University.

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Received 29 March 2005; revised 9 March 2006


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